On this blog you'll find a daily analysis of the forecast of the surf, windsurf, kitesurf and foiling conditions in Maui.
Email me if you need a Maui surf guide or a surf, SUP, SUP foil, prone foil or windfoil lesson. I've been teaching water sports since 2001.

Sunday, April 30, 2006

T'e' piaciuta

This Sunday night posting session is becoming a habit. Good kind, though.I did a lot of stuff today. Including doing nothing (my favorite).But here I think it's worth to mention the most remarkable of the things I did today (beyond doing nothing, of course).For the first time, in fact, I surfed a spot on the north shore (sorry, no names... this blog is becoming too popular...) standing up on the 12.6. It was unbelievable. Till a light breeze finally picked up around 10.30, I was even hot in my neoprene tank top. Now, that's something. Even though I am in Maui, I get cold very easy in the water and always wear that tank top. Summertime in Lahiana, maybe not. But today it was the last day of april and it was the north shore. Nevertheless, the sun was quite strong. And the ocean was quite blue. And quite glassy. I saw the biggest-turtle-ever swimming right under my board. And I caught a few double overhead bombs, that I will feel again when I'll go to bed. I already saw the lines under the shower...Unfortunately, I broke the blade of the paddle paddling for a wave.Fortunately I broke it at the end of the session (it can always be worse...).

Below, Hookipa at 8 am. Crowded paradise.

And this looks like Laird again. Whoever he was, he was ripping!

I also want to mention that my very wonderful friend Sharon started her own blog. This is the address http://www.kinel.blogspot.com/ and this is the email with which she announced it:

"Aloha my lovelies;I've been quietly hooked on my friend Giampoalo's (wrong spelling, baby) blog for quite a while, and as imitation is the sincerest form of flattery-I have boldly plagiarized!

This whole thing stems from an observation of myself that when asked the question "how are you", I summarize in vague terms and while you get the gist-you don't get the juice.

Life is full of many minor magical moments. So this is my way of letting those of you who care to be voyeurs, in on some of mine. I update it when I feel so inclined and I'm still ironing out a few wrinkles....enjoy anyway."

I think that may stimulate the curiosity of somebody. I know that the photo she picked for her online profile will stimulate the curiosity of some gentlemen... Don't be fooled though. You have more chances to see female bodies on this blog than on hers...

Sorry, I had to delete her photo, because it was too large and sent my profile all the way at the bottom of the page... check it out on her blog!

The last thing I want to state here, is that I really love the shuffle. My media player just decided to pick Renato Carosone's "T'e' piaciuta?" out of my collection of 3533 songs.

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Holy snow!

Here's a few pics that show how intense a passion can be. Jan 15 somewhere in Rhode Island or Maine (wrong! It's Long Island, New York), these guys don't give a shit... they got to go sail!A lot of respect to Florian and his friends for that.The name of the sailor who "sacrified himself" to stay on shore and take pics is Steve Domjan.

Watching these photos also enhances even more my appreciation for the paradise conditions of Maui...More photos on: http://tinyurl.com/mxy7k.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Visitors from all over the world

One month ago, I put a counter on this blog. I had 1488 visitors, but it's a tricky number, since it counts also myself and when I post a lot of photos it counts every post. What is really impressive (for me) is the statistic that tells me where the people connects from. Here's a partial (since I'm cheap, I installed the free version that only keeps track of the last 100 people and I might have well missed some) list of the 28 countries I noticed so far:

Monday, April 24, 2006

Photo story of a Sunday at Puamana.

I woke up in the morning in my latest hair style and I realized it was Sunday.

"Yeah! South shore!!!"

It was Frankie's birthday and there were a bunch of friends. There were also some playful little waves (windswell of the southern hemisphere trade winds). I paddled my Big Kahuna (the 12.6) all the way to Mala, catching a wave at every little break. At Shark pit I caught a couple of waiste high bombs. Nobody out, glassy. I could see so many sea urchins on the bottom... next time I surf there I better keep my feet off the reef.

This one riding the Big Kahuna here below, is aussie Matt celebrating his (slow) recovery from his bad ankle accident one year ago. Still got some screws to go.

With a mum like Carine...

...how can you not be cute?! C'est va Lou Lou?

And how about this other little girl? Don't know her mum, but I bet she's not bad either...

A few trees away Ulrich was celebrating his birthday too. Here he is... look what the hell he set up at the beach!!!

That software is da kine. I'm so gonna buy it!!

While the beers get cold in the cooler...

...somebody plays bocce,

...somebody brought his brand new board,

somebody brought the favorite magazine. It says:"Get a body you'll love by June 1st".

For a body like that, I'll wait even a little longer... No hurry, as long as it shows up one day at my door!

Ulli caught something.

Moroccan windsurfer Bouiamaa Guilloul was ejoying himself. I say him do the craziest jumps at the last Aloha Classic. I gave him some remarkably high marks for that (you know, just to let you know that I was judging).

Frankie shows his love to his dog the French way.

Mike shows his love to his dog the... American way? Mike, what the hell are you doing?

Michelle shows Danny that she likes his shirt... the English way? Oh, boy... I'm getting lost!

This log is getting ready to enjoy the sunset...

...just like these palm trees.

Here's how it started.

And then it got like this.

And then like this.

And then like this.

And then like this.

And then like this.

And then like this.

And then it got dark, but there was still something beautiful worth a photo...

Hey there! It took me more than an hour to do this. Better show some appreciation here!

PS. Thanks to Sharon for some of the photos. Soon she's going to have her own blog (stay tuned for the address). If she gets competitive, I'm not sure she will be still happy to give me her shots. In fact, I already had to steal these ones...

Friday, April 21, 2006

What a session!

The waves at Kanaha were really good. We received the angular spreading of a big swell mostly headed towards Oregon. I can't believe there was so much energy in it, even though the fetch was not oriented directly towards Hawaii, as you can see from the weather map of 4-17 below. What if we were right in front of it? It would have been too big for lower Kanaha, while Jaws and all the outer reefs would have gone off, I guess...

Anyways, I am pretty happy about my sailing skills lately. In other words, I've never sailed as good as now. For the first time in my life, for example, I went for the lip of a closing out mast high wave. It was an incredible feeling. Looking at the monster from down below during the bottom turn and feeling the confidence and the aggressiveness overcome the fear.I did the top turn one foot under the lip. Didn't hit it... doesn't matter, I went for it. It was incredible.

Let's talk equipment for a sec.I'm getting tuned into my new wave board with superthin rails (photo coming soon). That board is quite amazing. I'm waiting for my new SuperFreak 4.7 to arrive and so I was borrowing a 4.8 "normal" sail. A very good sail, but... so hard and stiff. I can't wait till I go back to the gentle soft feel of the dacron.Actually I didn't have to wait too long yesterday, because around 4.30 the wind dropped and I put my SF 5.5 on my longboard. And it was another hour of great fun.At the end it was me, Michelle and three kitesurfers.

Below, a photo from the february photoshoot. It's Jace Panebianco standing on the front of my longboard, still holding his gear. The good thing of his monofilm sail is that it's transparent so you can see the beauty of my SF thru it...

Today, the waves will be smaller, but I predict still plenty of logo high sets. If you plan to go sail Kanaha, watch out for that guy with the board with razor blade rails... I'll be all over the place! Rest of the world, we're having fun here in Maui! Aloha.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Below, you'll find the photo story of yet another Sunday at the beach.

But, let's talk eye brows for a second. Those are not eye brows. Those are mislocated hair!

At the office in HP in Rome, there was a friend that helped me trimming the hedge. She had scissors in her drawer and when they were getting out of control (the brows) she used to say:"Cammaro', let's go to the coffee machine... we have to cut!"She even gave me those scissors when I left. "Keep them always with you. Wherever you go... you're going to need them!"What a lovely friend gesture.

Saturday, April 15, 2006

I spent the whole day surfing one of my favorite spots on the south shore. I'm not going to name it, but I will add that is one of Gerry Lopez favorite spots too.Excuse me.

It looks great, but it was so good only for one hour or so. And I was resting on the beach after my first session with the tide too low, so I could take photos. After watching at all these great rides, I decided to go out again, but at that point the tide was too high. What did I learn? That the best tide for that spot is halfway between low and high. For that swell size and direction, of course. It's a bit tricky to be able to predict good surfing conditions, but I love the challenge of it. It's like part of the game.

I busted my fin box on the reef. What did I learn? I better use the channel to get in instead of cutting thru the reef, even if the tide is halfway. What's good about it? It's going to be my first fin box replacement job. I will learn something new.With an attitude like this, I'll be always happy.

I was back in Kuau at 5.50. I checked the waves from the car at Hookipa and I had no hesitations to decide to go sail. Fifteen minutes later I was in the water. Great session, two of us. A nice guy from New Zealand, who was ripping. The emotions we shared out there were so intense that I almost wanted to hug him on the beach. I didn't, but we talked about board shapes for ten minutes almost in the dark and under the rain.

Wow, I am in a posting frenzy! I hope you guys enjoy the photos. I enjoy taking them.

I couldn't come up with a good title for this one. Just watch and feel it.

Plenty availability of studios and apts in Paia and the north shore.

About Me

Born and raised in Italy, I became an engineer and worked 11 years in the IT industry. Sick of that, in 2001 I wanted to take a year off and spend it in Maui, the best windsurfing spot in the world. Not only I'm still here (in Maui), but I also got into surfing. And the stoke is flying high. Life is too short to work 8 hours a day...